The Final Frontier Can Be Lonely
by Kaokie
Summary: A series of short stories about the crew of the Enterprise and how they cope. Same timeline as all my other stories, but reading them isn't necessary.
1. Bogeys with Scotty and Uhura

**A/N:** This'll be a serious of quick little drabbles about dealing with pain and grief and such on the _Enterprise_ where you have so few people to turn to. This series was probably started to allow later Dr. Springer some screen time without being seen from Bones' perspective and some real insight into how she goes about her job. This first one isn't with her, but it does go along the same themes as the rest of them will. And also I realized I didn't really have anything with Uhura in it being her sweet little self. This is mostly inspired by Nichelle Nichols' version, but is really supposed to be Zoe Saldana's Uhura. Dur. Silly me. You don't have to have read any of my other fics to get this series, I think, but all my stories are in the same timeline unless I say otherwise.

_I don't own Star Trek, only Dr. Springer._

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**Bogeys and Shoulders**

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Scotty had prided himself on the fact that he had never had a full-on mental breakdown, well, at least not in a public place. When he was a child he had rarely witnessed anyone crying let alone wracked with grief. Maybe it was this upbringing that made him sure that crying was the most private thing in the world. If he so much as shed a single tear he felt like he needed to leave the room instantly. But this all went to hell in the mess hall one day a week after he got the call that his mother had died.

He could actually feel the breakdown coming for days. It was like he was a pipe that was clogged, and more and more grief kept flowing in but his own pride kept it all bottled in and the pressure kept building up until the straw that broke the Scotsman's back landed and his tears exploded from his eyes into his mashed potatoes. The breaking point had been so close for a while, that as soon as Uhura started talked about her dad's visit to Giza to see the 'mummies' he couldn't hold it in any longer. When it did come out his sobs were violent, loud and heard by everyone in the room.

All eyes were on him, and Nyota tried to calm him, but he could hardly hear her at all. He felt her hands on his back, gently rubbing to try and soothe him. Eventually even that faded away and all he felt were the tremors going through him like a 8.0 earthquake, all he heard was himself and he couldn't see a thing through the veil of tears streaming from his red, inflamed eyes. Within a few minutes he was taken away by the woman and they walked down the halls for a bit. He could tell that Uhura wanted to give him more than that, but didn't know how.

His tears stopped eventually, and soon after he managed to choke out words, "Thanks."

"It's alright," she whispered with a sweet smile. "Do you want to sit down?"

Mr. Scott nodded weakly, and in case she hadn't seen he did so twice, "Yes. Yes, that'd be... that'd be for th' best." The two of them sat against the wall on the cold, hard ground and both felt very grateful no one was walking by to be sure. "I dinnae know what came over me." The girl shrugged, but didn't seem convinced that this was just an unexpected phenomenon. In fact she seemed to know quite certainly that it wasn't.

He wondered if he was that transparent or if she was just smart.

"I guess I haven't been quite the same since... since me mum died."

"I'm sorry, Scotty." He felt her hand grab his. That was only _mildly _uncomfortable and awkward, and it was definitely sweet. "Do you want to talk about it, or would that be too painful?"

"I guess I should, eh? It's not good ta keep these things inside, right?"

"Probably not, hon, but it's your choice."

"I wanna talk about it," he decided finally, and supposed it was better than having to explode again in the near future. "Although... it did feel sorta good just ta get all of that crying out there."

"You should never keep a tear in, Scotty, purging yourself will usually make you feel better afterwards."

"I'll keep that in mind." He laughed a little, feeling silly that he never learned that. "I don't feel bad about me mum's passing in a sense that she ought'nt t've died, exactly. Her prognosis was a few years at th' most and that was a long time ago, y'see. I just... I feel like I shoulda been there with her to spend her last few moments, not way out here. I can hardly remember th' last thing I ever said ta her."

"You couldn't have known when she was going to pass on, and you were already enlisted in Starfleet when she was diagnosed weren't you?"

"Yes, but... I just... I feel like... I dinnae know what I feel anymore, and that's certainly not gonna help me, huh? Me paps always told me that psychology is like engineering. Figure out the problem and then ye can easily fix it. But I dinnae know what the problem is!"

"Not always true. Sometimes," Uhura started, "no ammount of talking or figuring can fix a problem. All you need is time and to let it all out. Sometimes just a good shoulder to cry on. I can't guarantee mine's the best to cry on, but it's always available."

"I dinnae want to get your sleeve covered in bogeys."

"Then you can have my metaphorical shoulder."

Scotty smiled and wiped the tears from his eyes and snot from his nose.

"And you can have me metaphorical bogeys."


	2. Superman

**Superman**

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The Captain arrived early, having made his way in. Because he could, and had access to any and everywhere on the ship if he wanted. Boy did _that _feel good.

Dr. Springer arrived on time, and - boy - was she surprised to see Kirk already in her office.

"Captain," she said, while trying to pretend as if she wasn't shocked in the slightest. "Glad to see you could make it."

"I always do."

"Late, most of the time. Usually not before I do."

He smiled a little and picked up one of those metal ring puzzles she always kept on her desk. She didn't stop him from touching her stuff. That was weird.

"I was bored."

"You were bored. Hence the puzzles?"

"No. They were _there_, hence the puzzles."

"I see. Have you ever solved one of those before?"

"I usually give up before I do."

"Defeatist attitude? Sounds like something I should write down, because coming from the Captain..."

Jim laughed at the joke for a second before trying to pull the metal rings apart again.

"Low attention span."

As if to unintentionally prove himself right, he carried on with the rings for a few more seconds before putting them back on her desk and plopping down on her couch.

"You're being exceptionally Kirk today." The shrink noted, and the Captain laughed. "And not the real, smart, determined, fearless leader Kirk, but the annoying school boy Kirk that Leonard complains about."

"Well, Bones would, wouldn't he? Especially to his little Sauerkraut Sweetheart." The harsh nature of that last part was a bit much even for him, he gave the doctor an apologetic look before lamely giving an explanation. "Bad day."

"Bad day?"

"Yes."

A long silence.

"No elaboration is needed, Captain. I get the picture."

"I don't know if you know this, but therapists aren't supposed to be witty and sarcastic."

"They're also supposed to be bald, old men with bad goatees, and their patients are supposed to actually talk with them about their problems."

"Things can't always be how they're supposed to be."

"A serious note in the middle of a light-hearted conversation. Does that have anything to do with your bad day?"

Kirk sighed, buried his face in his hands and shook his head.

"This is so much harder than it should be."

"What's harder?"

"Being Captain."

Dr. Springer nodded, and gave the Captain a sympathetic look.

"I would imagine so. What happened today?"

"We lost a crewman down on M-113, and we shouldn't have."

A moment passed in complete silence.

"And you blame yourself, Captain?"

"Who else can I blame? I ordered him to go off and look for-." Jim stopped, shook his head yet again and looked at the doctor. "I sent him to his death."

"Just like Starfleet sent every other ship they had to be destroyed? A fate we would have suffered as well if not for a fluke chance?"

Kirk was quiet.

"Did they know, Captain, that they were sending the fleet to their death?"

"No."

"And why did they do it?"

"To save Vulcan."

"Was that a noble goal?"

"Yes."

"And what goal did you send that crewman to do?"

"To rescue a little Andorian girl from a cave."

"Did he?"

"Yes. At the cost of his life."

"He did his duty to Starfleet, and for a noble cause. It is unfortunate that he had to die to do it. Though not only is it not your fault that he did, you also did good in the process."

The Captain looked down at the floor. "I see."

"Not everything can go right."

"It can for Superman."

A half-hearted joke on Jim's part, but he didn't care.

"Let's stop by Krypton sometime and see just how everything went right for his homeplanet."

Kirk said nothing, Dr. Springer wrote something down in her notes.

"Even Superman is not infallible, James."


End file.
